Flying in the Face oF jobs and growth - British Chambers of Commerce

20
chaPter 1:
How does AviAtion HelP Business
creAte joBs And growtH?
12. iAtA (2006), op. cit.
13. oxford economic
Forecasting (2006), ‘the
economic contribution of
the Aviation industry in
the uK’
14. oxford economic
Forecasting (2006), op. cit
15. oxford economics
(2009), ‘Aviation: the real
world wide web, oxford
economics’
FigUre 3: uK trAde witH Foreign countries in
2009, correlAted witH no. Business triPs to/
FroM sAMe countries
number of visits (000s)
1,600
1,400
1,200
1,000
800
600
400
200
irish rep.
netherlands
spain
France
switzerland italy
denmark
Bel/lux
norway
0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
total trade in goods and services ($bn)
(source: cAA/ons)
Flying underPins
Business eFFiciency
some 80% of firms reported to
oxford economics 12 that air services
were important for the efficiency of
their production – with higher scores
in china and the usA. Previous
work by the same analysts asked
businesses about the importance
of passenger services in the
management of their operations.
some 70% felt that passenger
services were either vital or very
important. the primary reasons
for this were to meet clients and
potential clients (about 65% vital
or very important) and to network
with partners in other countries
(around 55%). the businesses
saw good connectivity as vital or
very important to oversee foreign
subsidiaries and for managers based
abroad to oversee uK operations
(about 45%) 13 .
germany
r 2 = 0.87
usA
loss oF Air
connectivity MeAns
lost Business
the same work also considered the
effects of declining air services, 60%
of businesses thought they would
be very or quite badly affected by
less customer contact, 40% felt their
businesses would be very or quite
badly affected by increased costs and
lost orders. And about 35% believed
their operations would be very or
quite badly affected by reduced
ability to network and be innovative 14 .
other experts have looked at
businesses’ views on these
mechanisms within particular sectors
of the economy. in a more recent
study, oxford economics survey
work done on businesses in the
city of london. some 73% of firms
thought air services were critical or
very important for business travel
to meet clients or service providers.
64% said they were critical or very
important for internal company
purposes, and 34% said business
travel was critical or very important
for other purposes 15 .